A state-wide initiative to stimulate the research environment in biomedical sciences at the three major research institutions in the State of South Carolina is proposed. Enhancement and sustainable improvements in the capacity for South Carolina institutions to compete successfully for NIH funds will be realized through the development of a facility for real time measurement of gene expression in living cells. Short term goals include the validation and optimization of this new technology as proposed. Long term goals include the use of the technology by more than fifty South Carolina biomedical and molecular biology researchers to address questions which cannot be answered unequivocally with traditional methodologies. All of the projects have relevance to the Healthy People 2000 priority areas of health promotion and disease prevention.